The Senate Committee on Information and Broadcasting has approved the draft of the freedom of information law prepared by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and recommended by a sub-committee, headed by Farhatullah Babar.
The committee decided that Kamil Ali Agha‚ chairman of the committee, will move the bill as a multi-party bill in the Senate.
A committee meeting‚ chaired by Agha‚ praised the efforts of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Senate sub-committee members including Babar‚ Daud Achakzai and Zafar Ali Shah.
Agha said if the bill was passed by parliament at the earliest‚ it would become an example for the provinces to follow.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed said the government believed in consensus and took all decisions with consultation of stakeholders.
He cited the example of a similar bill adopted by the Punjab cabinet before dissolution of the assemblies and added that the same policy was being followed here.
He suggested that the government should own the bill and present it in the cabinet for approval before tabling it in parliament.
However‚ the committee after thorough consultations came to the conclusion that it should be moved by the committee chairman on private members day as multi-party bill.
Later, the government will own the bill and present it in the cabinet for approval.
The committee also condemned the registration of an FIR against a private channel and decided to summon the Balochistan information secretary to record his statement on the unfortunate incident.
The information minister told the committee that he had personally talked to the Balochistan chief minister, who said he was informed by the officers that the case was registered on the orders of the Supreme Court.
He opined that telecasting report on the Quaid Residency was no crime‚ rather it was right of the people to know what had happened to the residency in a terrorist attack.
The committee also expressed concern over the telecast of foreign television dramas dubbed in Urdu and decided to seek a reply from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority in the next meeting.
The meeting was attended by senators Saeeda Iqbal‚ Saeed Ghani‚ Farhatullah Babar‚ Farha Aqil‚ Shirala Malik and Rubina Khalid.
Information and Broadcasting Secretary Nazir Saeed‚ Additional Information Secretary Muhammad Azam and other senior officials of the ministry were also present.
